Communication devices, such as routers, hubs, switches, and end-user devices, execute software to perform their functions. The software manages the overall operation of the device to deliver communication services, and may also provide a variety of provisioning, configuration, and management functions. To ensure the reliability and maintenance of these communication devices, the software often maintains a number of variables in a managed information base (MIB) to monitor and manage the communication device.
Software in these communication devices will invariably require upgrades, in whole or in part, to improve the functionality of the device, to fix software bugs and errors, or to improve the device's overall operation and performance. With increasingly more complex communication devices provisioned in networks of many interdependent devices, device manufacturers and network administrators must ensure that software upgrades are performed expeditiously and accurately to minimize device errors and interruption in network services.